Since we introduced the M3 pre-amplifier in 1996, based on
circuitry developed 1994/95. The M3 has proved quite a success, it was voted
“Pre-Amplifier of the Year” by Hi-Fi Review in HK earlier this year. It is technically
the most advanced (and strangely enough, at the same time quite backward
looking) pre-amplifier available. With its dual mono double choke valve
rectified power supplies, optimised output transformers and powerful high gain
line stage, it will remain the standard in pre-amplifier topology for years to
come and as a result is already widely copied.

Building on this circuit’s fundamental qualities we have
applied the standard Audio Note™ procedure of upgrading the parts quality in
order to improve and refine the sound. The first step in this direction is
presented in the M5, followed by the M6 and finally the M8 pre-amplifier,
making up what we call the M3-pre-amplifier family.

A couple of super quality pre-amplifiers called the M10
and the SOGON™ M12 are also in development, in these pre-amplifiers we will
take the power supply design, valve choice, materials, circuits and component
quality to new heights with a price to match, just wait and see!

The improvement in specification, components and materials
within the M3 family is shown on the below.

The above is a demonstration of how our philosophy of
developing the best possible circuit and power supply provides a great platform
for creating substantial and in this case almost shocking improvements in sound
quality by raising the component and material quality to ever higher levels.

Consider how many other audio manufacturers master the
understanding of component and material quality to this degree. This comparison
is easily done and is also an instant measure of the seriousness of any audio
manufacturer. Just check if his specification includes anything like the above
array of specialised audio parts and materials displayed above and then ask
your self. Why are there no low noise non-magnetic precision carbon film or
tantalum resistors, Black Gate™ or Cerafine capacitors, our own hand-made
copper or silver foil signal capacitors, silver wire or thin laminate nickel
C-core transformers in the vast majority of our competitors products? I credit
most of you with the intelligence to answer that question, so answers on a
postcard please! The best answers will be credited with a meter of silver
interconnect provided I can use it for my own devious ends!

Please consider the degree to which our very large and in
depth stock of exotic parts, represents an investment that requires not just
money, but also a combination of faith in the pursuit of absolute sonic quality
combined with considerable and highly developed technological know how and a
very sophisticated aesthetic. But more than anything it requires courage and
commitment to excellence, disregarding, despite their importance, commercial
considerations as the only guide to success, they really do come second. Which
is where they belong if we are to succeed in the pursuit to get better sound
and greater beauty in reproduction of our favourite music and not just remain a
pipe dream.

Elsewhere in the specialist audio industry, as in most
other branches of consumer products, the relentless pursuit of ever-cheaper
products to provide higher profits through lower and lower production costs
continues unabated. This has lead to a technological development where
measurement technologies have been “redesigned”, distorted and figures
misrepresented in order to create the necessary “proof” that the reduction in
cost did not result in a corresponding loss in “quality”. “We can make the same
cheaper” is the unspoken slogan, which has resulted in products that
superficially maintain the same standards of their predecessors but which in
reality is substantially and demonstrably inferior, this is what callously
passes as progress in most companies’ minds, but progress to where?

Add to this the fact that a pound spent on marketing and
promotion seems to have proven to be much more effective at selling a product
than a pound invested in better quality parts or better design. Seems is really
the wrong word here, it is far more effective in persuading you
to buy someone’s products.

Remember in this context that the money can only be spent
once.

So if the money are invested in promotion and gimmicks and
not put into the product in the form of quality parts, research &
development or skilled labour the money have already gone by the time the box
has been opened. Bear that in mind next time you pick up a glossy brochure,
respond to a designer advert or admire a stunning finish or visual design. At
the end of the day, if the product’s function and performance is not enhanced
by the investment in finish or literature then it will be worth less with time,
because time is not only a strict but a heartless master and judge. Time
favours performance rather than fashion, which is devalued quickly after the
first admiring glance.

Gloss fades, performance shines, all given time, and
sooner than you may this, just try to sell last years “hot” digital product for
half or more than you paid for it, a bad decision that only become obvious when
you come to sell it off course. But one which should be learnt from perhaps?

Over the past 30 years this process has been repeated so
many times that it takes real ingenuity, effort, resolve and considerable
historical knowledge and overview to reverse. Which is something that most
members of our convenience oriented culture are not prepared to invest any time
in, so it is left to someone as fanatical about the beauty of really well
performed and reproduced music like myself to pursue this with uncompromising
vigour!

Peter Qvortrup

June, 2001

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